The Montgomery campus will start with 10 third and fourth year medical students when it opens in 2014 and expand to 20 the following year, Colmenares said.

"There is a dearth of primary care physicians in the 'river region' of central Alabama, and the average age of doctors is over 50," Dr. Wick Many, newly appointed regional dean of the Montgomery campus, said in a press release.

At the Huntsville and Tuscaloosa campuses there are 65 students each and 52 percent of the graduates enter primary care, according to Colmenares. Doctors often practice where they train - 44 percent of UAB medical students stay in state for their residencies, according to the release.

The UAB School of Medicine has more than 800 medical students and a faculty of more than 1,200.